My neighbors will be among the 500,000 visitors in London this month for the Olympics. With these friends in mind, I’ve kept an eye out for other diversions they’d enjoy—attractions beyond “bucket list” items like the London Eye, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre or the Harry Potter studio tour. Trouble is, so much advice is standard-issue: Heathrow Airport tips…special museum exhibits…

You may not often celebrate Independence Day outside the States, but July begins with some intriguing alternatives… Toulouse’s Tangopostale Festival, for instance, when the jewel of southwest France taps its feet to the rhythm of Argentine tango. It takes place July 2 to 8.

Subscriber Login - Not A Member Yet? Click Here Email Address Password Remember Me Forgot Your Password?

As you climb the steep path rising through the pretty medieval village of Vézelay, in northern Burgundy, it’s easy to imagine the exhilaration long-ago pilgrims must have felt upon reaching the town’s summit and catching their first full sight of the glorious Basilique Sainte-Marie-Madeleine.

It’s a stunning and accessible location. It’s easy and affordable to get there. It’s going to be luxurious. And right now you can get in on this self-contained Caribbean resort for half the price you’d pay in a more mature one just 30 minutes away.

My plan for retirement involved checking out several countries: Spain, New Zealand, Panama, Costa Rica, Chile, Brazil. With that much choice I didn’t expect to fall so hard for my first stop, Uruguay. But it was like going to a party and falling in love with the first girl I danced with.

Fifteen years ago, Diane and David Hisle took a vacation from the Caribbean island of Nevis to visit a friend in the interior of Belize. At the time they were living on a 65-foot schooner called The Alexander Hamilton. Life on board was good, and the couple had no plans for a change. Yet what they found in the small riverside town of San Ignacio enchanted them so much that they never left.

Roger Hughes and his wife Candace moved part-time to Uruguay four years ago. A big reason was access to affordable health care. “We didn’t fancy curtailing our lifestyle to preserve a great portion of our assets for health-care costs,” says Roger. As Roger and Candace had learned, a few countries in the world stand out as places where foreign residents can easily qualify for, and affordably buy, a private health-care plan. Uruguay is one of the best.

Imagine a country where a doctor personally greets you and takes you into his small office for a consultation. Where you have his personal cell number and most “appointments” are drop-by visits with no waiting around. A place where that doctor makes house calls and you won’t be charged for any follow-up visits to the office…

When driving the road that rings Lake Arenal, Costa Rica’s biggest lake, keep your eyes on the road. Driving 101, right? But it’s hard not to get distracted. Blue morpho butterflies flit across the road, troops of raccoon-like coatis scamper on the shoulder, howler monkeys lounge in the high branches, and bright tropical birds wing it from tree to tree.